


Life vs. Death

by SassyFlamingo2



Series: Amor Non Exurat Flamma [3]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Blind Character, Blind Ignis Scientia, Blindness, Coma, F/M, Feelings, Major Character Injury, Near Death, Near Death Experiences, Older Chocobros (Final Fantasy XV), Older Gladiolus Amicitia, Older Ignis Scientia, Older Prompto Argentum, One Shot, Short
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-29
Updated: 2020-08-29
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:27:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26182651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SassyFlamingo2/pseuds/SassyFlamingo2
Summary: Ignis's lovely wife is near death, a factor that he had never believed possible until he hears the sudden quiet that accompanies the doctor's footstep. Each one like a dagger strike straight to his heart as he slowly realizes that he has lost the wife and mother of his child... or has he?
Relationships: Ignis Scientia & Original Female Character(s), Ignis Scientia/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Amor Non Exurat Flamma [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1829086
Kudos: 2





	Life vs. Death

Of every thought that had ever drifted through his head once he was blinded, he had never wished that his hearing had been taken away instead.

But now he had.

With every rough bark of the doctor's voice to clear, with every crackling jolt of electricity that sounded from the machine just beyond the reaches of the walls, Ignis wished that he didn't have to hear the doctor's fighting for the life of his wife and unborn child.

Six weeks Vassa had laid in that bed after the hard won victory of the light after the darkness. Six weeks of healing for her broken body with nothing more than the faint warmth of her skin, the soft sounds of her breathing, and the beeping of the heart monitor telling him that she was alive. His ears ached to hear her gentle laugh instead of the raspy breathing. His skin ached to feel the press of lips so soft against his own rather than the unresponsive ones. But most of all, his heart ached for ached for each and every little piece of Vassa that he couldn't name individually, but made up an entire beautiful being that had become his own personal gift from the Astrals. 

Then she was ripped from him in a harsh squeal of monitors ringing out with the nonresponsive beat of her heart, by skilled hands pushing him back while they went to battle for Vassa's own life. He hadn't even realized that Gladio and Prompto had arrived till the blonde gunman's hands had guided him to a seat to wait in the silence of tortured hell.

Vaguely he was aware of a wetness leaking down his cheeks from his eyes, of Gladio's worry laced angry grumbles, and Prompto slight nonsensical soothing. The razor sharp blade of grief in his chest twisted every time the doctors tried to shock her back to life, feeling like he was being ripped in two every time someone called for a phoenix down but there was not a single one to be found. His fingers wound tight around the little purple Chocobo hanging next to his own skull pendant, a remainder of the promise she had extracted from him that he would come back alive and whole to her.

Why couldn't she hold the same promise herself?

 _Please, dear Astrals. If you have any mercy at all. Let them live. Let her live. I will gladly give you my own life if you will just spare theirs._ He soundlessly whispered to any astral that was listening, and for a moment, he could have sworn he felt the softness of a familiar ghostly hand rest against his cheek, but then it was gone. Then it was quiet, too quiet.

When the equipment ceased and the doctors went silent, he could have sworn his own heart stopped beating in that very moment. Gladio's furious demand to know why they had stopped interrupted the soft steps as the doctor exited her room and came to stand before him. He raised his head, a faint impression of a shadow against a watery light filling his weak vision as someone started to speak. "Mr. Scientia. We are so sorry. We tried everything we could, but your wife has passed on."

"The hell you haven't tried everything you could or you would still be in their trying to get her back!" The floor squeaked under Gladio's heavy steps as he bore down on the doctor.

He swallowed roughly, releasing his grip on the necklace and shifted to his feet. "May I see her?" His many years of training as Noctis's advisor kept his voice steady while his heart felt like it was breaking. The doctor most likely flinched at his word choice, a blind man 'seeing' his dead wife, but granted him permission to step inside. The room was quiet and dark, a tomb already in the moments that had passed where she had just been living but was gone, as fleeting as speck of dust in the wind being blown away into the eternity of nevermore. Still he made his way to her bedside, reaching for a bandaged hand that hid flame scarred skin.

"You fought valiantly, my dear Vassa. The bravest, kindest, most loving woman I have ever had the honor of knowing and I thank the Astrals for the chance to know you and to love you. I wish you an eternity of restful sleep with our departed ones until I can see you again." Here his steady voice broke, the overwhelming tide of pain and grief refusing to be held back any longer, letting the last words he spoke to painfully stick in his throat. "T-Thank you for standing by me, my love."

Releasing her hand to lay on the bed once more, his fingers trailed upwards to curve along her cheek, his thumb rubbing softly against her skin before rising upwards to smooth away a section of the lustrous dark hair that was still so soft beneath the tips of his fingers, before he lowered his head to place a kiss directly onto her chilled forehead. With just that feeling of her cold flesh pressed against his, it was like the knife finally ripped right into the center of his heart, severing the final fragile thread holding his carefully bound walls together as a fresh round of silvery tears dripped from his eyes. It felt like he was in those chilled waters of Altissa once again, surrounding by a wave after wave of despair that beat his body against the sharp rocks of grief, but this time he had no light to guide him to the shore. His hope was gone, crushed out like a fragile candle flame for the future of what could have been. He barely felt his limbs collapse beneath him as he rested his face in the curve of her neck, his arms cupping her fragile frame while great heaving sobs ripped free from his chest. How was he going to live without her? His light? His gentle Sylleblossom? First Noctis, now Vassa. When would Gladio and Promto leave as well? Leaving him alone to live in the bright light of an Astral cursed dawn? If this was the blessed end, than he almost wished that they had never went to raise the dawn. Then at least they would be still alive, _she_ would still be alive and damn the bloody consequences!

But he mustn't think selfish thoughts like that. The dark cursed world was hell itself to so many that Noctis's and now Vassa's sacrifices were not in vain. Their names would be added to the list of glorious warriors of history who sacrificed for the greater good. He should be proud of her for what she did, but he felt so sick instead. So sick that he could die lying here beside her as his mind continued to taunt him with memory of her faint breathing, of her chest brushing against his as he continued to release his grief filled tears into her cool skin. Twice he felt a tentative pressure brush along his ribs, but of course it was only another trick.

There it was again, a soft prod to his hip like someone was poking him, but there was no one else in the room. He could still hear Gladio and Prompto in the hall beyond, their voices mixed with that of one of the nurses while they spoke, but then the tapping came again, right about the space where Vassa's hand should have laid. His heart skipped slightly, a single ray of the thinnest strand of hope blooming to life with the movement. Could it really be...

He twisted his head to the side with a slight shake, his cheek now laying flat against her neck as he tried to clear his mind of those types of thoughts that he had no right to think. His love was dead, even pronounced so by doctors far more experienced than he. It was the involuntary twitches of dying muscles and nerves, nothing more, but that thin hope wouldn't die as he removed his left hand from her body and followed the line of her right arm till he encountered the rough bump of her bandages and her fingers now caught in the belt loops of his pants rather than laying flat as they originally had. He couldn't repress a small sad smile as he untangled her fingers from their trappings, but surprisingly her fingers contracted around his, ripping an involuntary gasp from his throat with the strength of a such a gesture. This didn't seem right, it must have been his mind playing some sort of cruel trick on him. But... how could it replicate the feeling of her chest pushing against his with a simulated breath, or the slight bump of the memory of a heartbeat where none was? A silent wordless prayer mentally lifted to the Astrals above as he tilted his head to the side and rested his ear fully on her chest, ignoring the speeding beat of his own heart that was thundering in his ears, he held his breath and listened.

She was alive.

He felt her chest swell with a slight inhale, the air traveling to still breathing lungs while a still beating heart was pumping steadily beneath his ear, bringing life to a body still chilled from the brush with death. That single thread of hope bloomed double, his own heart soaring on those threads of hope as he lifted his head and focused what shallowly remained of his vision on the darkened shadows of her face. "Vassa... You're breathing." The words croaked from his throat too swelled with emotion for proper sentences, but when her hand twitched against his once again, he reached up with a shaking hand to brush his fingers along the base of her neck, feeling her pulse beat strongly against his probing fingertips before landing downwards to feel the powerful surge of her breathing growing stronger with each moment.

He leaned up and swallowed roughly against the lump of hope and fear still clinging tight and threatening to choke him at any moment. She was still here. His Vassa was still here and still fighting to stand beside him. "Gladio, Prompto! Come in here and turn the monitors on!" He called out into the air, the shuffle of two distinctive sets of feet rushing across the floor was ignored as he returned his focus to her. "That's my girl. My beautiful little warrior. The battle isn't over yet." He crooned while trailing his right hand through her hair, the left cradling those twitching fingers that were squeezing his in response.

"Ignis, what in the hell are you doing? Have you lost your mind? She's dead!" He could feel Gladio's accusing gaze burning into his back like the fires of Ifrit.

"I'm bloody well blind, not deaf! I can hear her heart beating! Now turn on the damn monitors!" He snapped with the viciousness of an irate Saberclaw. The surprised hiss of Gladio's quick breath and the squeak of his shoes against the floor told him that his friend had taken a surprised step backwards from his sharpness, but apologies would be made later because his mind was firmly focused on his beautiful wife now.

He heard the groping clicks and snaps as Gladio seemed to have tried and failed to connect the machines properly before Prompto took over with a few quick muttered words. Within seconds the rapid beeping of the monitor resumed it's activity, echoing the evidence under his hands that Vassa was well and truly indeed alive.

"Holy shit! She is still alive." Gladio exclaimed in wonder and what he imagined was a bewildered glance towards her body.

"I'm gonna go tell the doctors! Be right back!" Prompto chirped before the pounding of his feet faded into the distance of a few screeched yells to the medical personnel.

"That's it. Keep fighting just like that, love. You're so strong, I know you can do it!" The whispered words dripped from his lips like water, wanting to encourage her in any way he could. It wasn't long before the doctor's hands had pushed him aside in favor of attending to her, but her hand held tight to his with a weakened but still powerful strength.

They weren't going to be parted just yet.


End file.
